The epithelium lining the orifice of the laryngeal gland of the Suncus murinus, with special reference to the "intermediate epithelium (Nakano)".
In the lateral wall of the laryngeal ventricle of the Suncus murinus, only a few excretory ducts of the laryngeal gland opened that drained the extensive lobular system. The ducts opened into the "intermediate epithelium (NAKANO, T.: Acta Anat. 127: 22-47, 1986)," which lined the transitional zone between the ciliated columnar epithelium and the stratified squamous one, and that showed gradations ranging from the ciliated stratified low-columnar through stratified cuboidal to stratified squamous type. The orifice of the laryngeal gland was relatively wide for the size of the animal and, therefore, the epithelium within the orifice was clearly observed by use of SEM. As the number of the ciliated cells decreased in the intermediate epithelium surrounding the orifice, the ciliated cells within the orifice reduced in number. Considering from these findings, it is suggested that the epithelium within the orifice has morphologically close resemblance to, and is influenced by, the epithelium surrounding the orifice.
Nakano
T
T
Department of Anatomy, Aichi Medical University, Japan.
Muto
H
H
D000818:Animals; D004848:Epithelium / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007830:Larynx / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012788:Shrews / Q000033:anatomy & histology*